Use of uniform resource locators in process control system documentation

ABSTRACT

A uniform resource locator (URL) is embedded in computerized or digital documentation for a physical and/or a software process control element existing within a process control environment to thereby provide an automatic link to documentation or other applications that exist in other processing or data environments, such as in a word processing environment or in a data manipulation environment. The URL may include a generalized field having a descriptor that identifies a property of the process control element and that operates so that, when the URL is selected, the generalized field is replaced with the property identified by the descripto

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/264,395, filed Mar. 8, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates generally to process controlnetworks and, more specifically, to a device and method that enhancesthe documentation for process control systems using uniform resourcelocators.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0003] Process control systems, such as those used in chemical,petroleum or other processes, generally include a centralized processcontroller communicatively coupled to one or more field devices whichmay be, for example, valve positioners, switches, sensors (such astemperature, pressure and flow rate sensors), etc. These field devicesperform physical control functions within the process (such as openingor closing a valve), take measurements within the process for use incontrolling the operation of the process or perform any other desiredfunction within the process. Historically, process controllers have beenconnected to field devices via one or more analog lines or buses whichmay carry, for example, 4-20 mA (milliamp) signals to and from the fielddevices. Generally speaking, the process controller receives signalsindicative of measurements made by one or more field devices and/orother information pertaining to the field devices, uses this informationto implement a control routine and then generates control signals whichare sent via the buses to the field devices to thereby control theoperation of the process.

[0004] In the past decade or so, there has been a move within theprocess control industry to implement field-based digital communicationswithin the process control environment. In fact, the process controlindustry has developed a number of standard, open, digital or combineddigital and analog communication protocols such as the HART®, PROFEBUS®,WORLDFIP®, Device-Net®, CAN and FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus (hereinafter“Fieldbus”) protocols which generally enable more field devices to beconnected to a particular bus, support more and faster communicationbetween the field devices and the controller and/or allow field devicesto send more and different types of information, such as informationpertaining to the status and configuration of the field device itself,to the process controller. Furthermore, these standard digital protocolsenable field devices made by different manufacturers to be used togetherwithin the same process control network.

[0005] With digital based control and communication, informationpertaining to a device or an application (such as a software program) istypically made available to a user or operator in some standardizedformat within the control programming environment, i.e., within theprotocol or software environment that actually implements control and/orcommunications within the process control network. For example, at leastsome of the above-identified communication protocols have specificfields for each process control element indicating the size of theelement, the location of the element and a brief description of theelement. However, the amount of memory or space provided for suchinformation is typically very limited. In fact, in most cases, thedescription field for each process control element is limited to between40 and 80 string characters. As a result, detailed documentation forprocess control elements is typically provided in a differentenvironment, such as a word processing environment, which is moresuitable for storing and displaying text documents having, for example,operating instructions, safety instructions, calibrating ortrouble-shooting tips, etc. associated with each of the particularprocess control elements.

[0006] The description field related to each process control componentwithin the control programming environment generally provides statictext referring the user to the appropriate stand-alone documents inother programming environments. The user, upon viewing such information,must load the necessary software for viewing the stand-alone documentand then must search for the document or otherwise call the document upto review the desired information for the process control element. Thiscan be tedious and time consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] According to the present invention, uniform resource locators(URLs) are included in computerized documentation for a process controlelement, such as within the description field of a process controlelement, to provide an automatic link or connection to furtherdocumentation or a further application associated with the processcontrol element. With URL(s) embedded into computerized documentationfor a process control element, a user or an operator can automaticallycall related documentation or a related application for a processcontrol element by merely selecting the URL(s).

[0008] Furthermore, a URL having a generalized field is embedded intocomputerized documentation for a process control element and, whenselected, the generalized field is replaced with some informationpertaining to the process control element, such as the name or locationof the process control element or the name of a containing element (suchas a process area or a node) of the process control element. In thismanner, process control elements may be copied, renamed and changedwithout having to change the URL(s) provided in the documentationassociated therewith.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009]FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a process control network;

[0010]FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of numerous programmingenvironments communicatively connected within a web network and a webbrowser which may access a document or application within one of theprogramming environments using a URL;

[0011]FIG. 3 is a depiction of a screen display illustrating the use ofa URL to provide a link to documentation associated with a processcontrol element; and

[0012]FIG. 4 is a depiction of a further screen display illustrating afurther use of a URL to provide a link to other documentation associatedwith a further process control element.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Referring now to FIG. 1, a process control network 10 includes aprocess controller 12 capable of implementing a process control routinestored therein and of communicating with control elements, such as fielddevices and/or function blocks located within field devices distributedthroughout the process control network 10. The controller 12, which canbe by way of example only, the DeltaV™ controller sold byFisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc., may be connected to numerousworkstations such as personal computers (PCs) 14 via a hub 16 andethernet connections 18. In turn, any of the PCs 14 may be connected toan external network, such as the internet (the World Wide Web), anintranet, or any other local area network or wide area network viaappropriate physical and software connection mechanisms.

[0014] The controller 12 is also connected to numerous field deviceslocated throughout a process (indicated generally by reference number19). The controller 12 may communicate through standard I/O cards 20 and22 to field devices 26, 28, 30, 32, 34 and 36 which are subject tocentralized control from the controller 12 and may communicate via aninterface card 40 and a bus 42 with numerous field devices 43, 44, 46,48 and 50 which may perform process control functions in a distributedmanner. By way of example only, the I/O card 20 may be an analog I/Ocard that connects the controller 12 to the field devices 26 and 28using 4 to 20 mA buses 51. Likewise, the I/O card 22 may be a digital orcombined digital and analog I/O card that communicates with digital ormixed digital and analog field devices 30, 32, 34 and 36 using anydesired format. Still further, the interface card 40, the bus 42 and thefield devices 43-50 may be Fieldbus components that communicate andinteroperate using the Fieldbus protocol. Of course, the field devices26-36 and 43-50 may be any types of field devices including, forexample, transmitters, sensors, valve positioners, valve controllers,etc. Likewise, the controller 12 and the field devices of FIG. 1 mayhave any function blocks or other control components (such asapplications) stored and/or executed therein to perform any desiredcontrol operations within the process 19.

[0015] In the configuration of FIG. 1, the PCs 14 (each of which has amemory 52 and a user display device 54, such as a CRT screen, associatedtherewith) may be used by one or more operators or users to communicatewith the process controller 12, to review or change the status of theprocess control network 10, to obtain information pertaining toindividual control elements such as the controller, the I/O devices, thefield devices and function blocks within the process control network 10,etc. If desired, an application executed by one of the PCs 14 mayprovide a graphical depiction of the process control routine storedwithin the controller 12 illustrating the function blocks or othercontrol elements within the process control routine and the manner inwhich these function blocks are linked together to provide control ofthe process 19. Likewise, an application, such as a browser application,may be used to view information pertaining to the configuration ormake-up of the process control system 10 or any of the individual areas,devices, function blocks, etc. therein. Such a browser application maybe similar to or the same as, for example, the MicroSoft™ InternetExplorer provided in a Windows95™, a Windows98™ or a WindowsN™environment.

[0016] Referring now to FIG. 2, the process control system 10 may have anumber of different programming environments associated therewith, suchprogramming environments being provided anywhere in the network, like inthe controller 12, any of the PCs 14 or in any device(s) communicativelycoupled thereto via, for example, a local area network or a wide areanetwork. The first such environment, illustrated in FIG. 2 as the box60, is the process control programming environment in which thecontroller 12 operates to perform process control functions. Such acontrol programming environment may be that of the controller 12, whichis typically defined by the manufacturer of the controller, but may alsoor instead be that associated with any communication or control protocolused in implementing control of the process 19, such as any of thedigital or mixed digital and analog protocols identified above. Ofcourse, any number of applications (user routines) may be provided inand run in the control programming environment, including routines thatenable a user or operator to view information associated with thecontrol elements used the process control system, to reconfigure orexecute different control routines, etc. Control elements within thisenvironment may be physical devices, such as field devices, thecontroller itself, I/O cards, workstations, memories, buses,communication lines or devices, may be software elements, such asfunction blocks, modules (fragments of process control software thatexecute control algorithms), libraries, applications (user programs), ormay be combined physical and software elements. Some of these controlelements are illustrated in FIG. 2 as blocks 62, 64 and 66.

[0017] Each of the control elements associated with or used in theprocess control system has one or more control function operators, whichcan be any physical, software or combined physical and software entitythat performs some function or operation within the control programmingenvironment. In physical devices, such as a valve, the control functionoperator may be one or more valve components that move in response tosignals generated within the control programming environment. In atransmitter or sensor, the control function operator may be, forexample, a sensing device that senses a process parameter or atransmitting device that transmits a signal indicative of a sensedparameter. Likewise, in a controller, the control function operator maybe a CPU or a memory while in an input/output card, the control functionoperator may be a port or switching network, etc. necessary foroperation of the input/output card. For pure software control elements,such as function blocks and modules, the control function operator canbe any set of code which, when executed on a processor, performs someoperation or function within a control or communication routine.Likewise, for libraries, the control function operator may be operationsoftware that stores data in and/or retrieves data from the librarymemory. Of course these are merely examples of control functionoperators, there being many more such operators associated with theseand other control elements.

[0018] Within the control programming environment, a control elementand/or an application (e.g., a user routine) that operates to performsome function within that environment may have one or more standardizedfields that provide information about a control element. In FIG. 2, theSize, Location and Description fields for the process control element 62are illustrated in an exploded view. This information may be stored in amemory associated with the control element or may be stored in a memoryassociated with an application, such as a browser application, a controlconfiguration application, an information gathering or storageapplication, etc., run in the process control programming environment60. In this example, the process control element 62 is a function blockand the Size, Location and Description fields associated therewith areviewed using standard dialog boxes in a Windows environment using anapplication that accesses these fields (if they are in a controlelement) or that stores these fields (if these fields are provided inthe application). Generally speaking, the size of these fields islimited in the control programming environment due to the memory,textual limitations and processing restrictions associated with thisenvironment.

[0019] As a result, other programming environments are used tosupplement the documentation of the control elements. One other suchenvironment, illustrated in FIG. 2 by the box 70, may be a wordprocessing environment, such as that associated with Microsoft Word orWordPerfect. Of course, the word processing environment has a wordprocessing application and numerous documents (illustrated as documents72, 74 and 76 in FIG. 2) therein. One or more of these documents may becreated to provide further documentation for a control element in thecontrol programming environment providing, for example, safetyinstructions, operating instructions and the like for a control element.

[0020] Another example programming environment, illustrated in FIG. 3 bythe, box 80, that might be used to supplement documentation or toprovide extended support for a control element is a data manipulationenvironment, such as that associated with an Excel or other spreadsheetprogram. This environment includes numerous entities, such as documentsor files 82, 84 and 86, that can be called up, viewed and/or used todisplay and manipulate data associated with or obtained by one of thecontrol elements in the control environment. Still other exampleprogramming environments may include, but are not limited to, video orgraphical environments (like a PowerPoint or a CADCAM environment),database environments, algorithmic or mathematical based environments(such as accounting, inventory control, etc. software), multiuserinformation environments (like the World Wide Web, an intranet or otherlocal area or wide area network) or environments which combine one ormore of these features. While these environments are described herein as“programming environments,” it is to be understood that the term“programming environment” as used herein is not limited to the use ofparticular types of programs or programming languages but is, instead,used in a broad sense to indicate any type of computer or digitaloperating or communication protocol used to perform some function orexecute some application, and may be a data manipulation protocol, acommunication protocol, a programming protocol, an information storageand retrieval protocol, etc.

[0021] While, in the past, one or more of these environments have beenused to provide additional documentation or applications for a controlelement within the control programming environment, the user had tostill call up the appropriate program, launch that program and then findthe appropriate document or file within the subsidiary environment,which took time and could be tedious.

[0022] According to the present invention, a uniform resource locator(URL) is located or placed within the documentation for a processcontrol element, wherein the URL points to a document or a file or someother entity in a different programming environment to enable a user toautomatically launch (or enter) that new environment and call up theappropriate document. It will be understood that the documentation(i.e., the description field) and thereby the URL may be stored withinthe control element or within an application the uses or supports thecontrol element. Generally speaking, the URL is a pointer or a link to adifferent program, document or file in a different programmingenvironment that is, in some manner, related to a control element withinthe process control system. The URL should, of course, point toenvironments that exist within the same device-or network as the controlenvironment or that are communicatively coupled to a device or networkin which the process control programming environment exists. Suchconnections may be provided via, for example, the controller 12 or a PC14, an ethernet connection, the internet or any other local area network(such as an intranet) or a wide area network to which the processcontrol system is coupled (either directly or via a wirelessconnection).

[0023] A URL may, for example, be located in the description fieldassociated with a process control element in the control environment, asillustrated in the exploded view of the documentation fields for thecontrol element 62 within the process control environment 60. Here, thesubsidiary document name is “controlmodule1.doc1” and is to be found inthe “linnet” local area network to which the control environment iscoupled. Of course, such a URL can-be placed in any field associatedwith, or in any part of the process control element or applicationwithin the process control environment, referred to herein generally asa description field, to serve the same purpose, i.e., launching a newenvironment and calling up a document or file within that environmentrelated in some manner to the control element. Of course, if desired,the URL may point to a document, file, etc. within the controlenvironment as well.

[0024] As will be understood, when selected (such as by placing thecursor over the URL and right clicking or double clicking on the URL ina Windows operating environment), the URL is sent to a web browser 90,which is preferably the default web browser on the computer or system inwhich the URL is selected. Using the URL, the browser 90 then finds andlaunches the appropriate programming environment, i.e., the appropriateapplication (such as a word processing application or a web page), callsup the referenced document or file within that environment and displaysthat document or file on the screen where the URL was selected. In thismanner, the URL can be used to automatically call up documentation orother applications that are, for example, within programmingenvironments other than the control programming environment, but whichprovide information on or applications that can be used for any of thecontrol elements within the control programming environment. It will beunderstood that documentation for a control element may be placed in,for example, a word processing environment stored on the same computer(such as a user workstation or PC 14) or on the same network as thecontrol programming environment located at the user site. Furthermore,by referencing documents provided by a manufacturer or supplier via, forexample, the World Wide Web, the URL can refer a user to the most recentdocumentation provided for a control element. Of course, this assumesthat a connection to the World Wide Web is available to the hostcomputer or workstation within which the URL is selected.

[0025] Using the URL in this manner, a user or operator in the controlprogramming environment does not have to manually call up or loaddifferent programming environments and find documents or files withinthose environments to find, read and/or use documentation or otherapplications associated with a control element. It will be understoodthat the URL may be stored any description field associated with acontrol entity. Such a description field includes any storage mechanismor format that, in any way, enables text (including a URL) to be storedin a memory and displayed on a user display device, such as a CRTscreen, a gas plasma display screen, an LED display screen, a printer,etc.

[0026] Of course, the URL may take on any desired format which ispreferably different in some manner than the other information or textwithin which the URL is placed. More particularly, the URL may be adifferent color than the other information within the controlprogramming display field, may also or instead be underlined (to enableit to be viewed by persons who are color blind), may be in a differentfont style and/or type size or may have any other distinguishingcharacteristic(s) or attribute(s) to make it readily apparent to theuser that the URL exists.

[0027] In one embodiment, the URL includes a generalized field thereinhaving a descriptor which identifies some attribute or property of thecontrol element for which the URL exists. For example, a URL for amodule may take on the format of“www.companyname.com/<module.name>.doc”, wherein the generalized field<module.name> is replaced by the actual name (the property) of thecontrol module or element for which the URL exists before beingprocessed by the web browser. In particular, when the applicationdisplaying the description field, recognizes that a user has selected aURL with a field in brackets, it replaces the bracketed field with theinformation or name specified in the brackets before passing the URL tothe web browser 90. Of course any other type of information or namecould be provided in the general field, such as the name of containingdevice (like the node or the area) in which the control element exists.

[0028] In a particular application, the URL is placed within thedescription field of the process control element or application 62 whichuses an operating system similar to the Windows95, Windows98 orWindowsNT operating system. In this application, the URL is placed in arich text field provided as a control within the dialog box of theoperating system. When selected by a user, the operating systemsnotifies the application of an event. The application (which may be, forexample, a DeltaV Explorer or Control Studio application) receives theURL from the rich text field within the Windows operating system as partof the event notification, analyzes the URL for the presence of ageneralized field and, if it finds such a field, replaces thegeneralized field in the URL with the property specified by thedescriptor in the generalized field. The application then uses, forexample, a WIN32 system call to find and activate the default browser 90and passes the changed URL to the default browser in any known ordesired manner. The default browser 90 then finds the referenceddocument by launching the appropriate programming or other applicationto establish a different environment (if that environment is not alreadyactive) and calling up the referenced document on the screen. Of course,if the URL links to a word processing document in, for example,WordPerfect, the browser 90 calls up a WordPerfect document. Likewise,if the URL references an Excel spreadsheet file, the browser 90 callsups an Excel file after running the Excel program. Similarly, if the URLpoints to some site within the World Wide Web, a local area network oran intranet, the default browser 90 calls up the appropriate software toaccess that site.

[0029] Placing a generalized field within the URL as described abovemakes use of the URL easier when the URL is provided in documentationfor or associated with control elements that are implemented in softwareand which are prone to be copied to create other control elements. Inparticular, many control elements, such as function blocks or modules(which are typically made up of a number of function blocks), are storedin a library and are copied to produce particular instances of afunction block or module. Because these new function blocks or modulesmay be altered somewhat before being used in a process controlenvironment, or may be used for different purposes in the processcontrol environment, different documentation is typically provided forthese different elements. However, a static URL that is stored withinthe element and that refers to a particular and specific document in,for example, a word processing environment, will also be copied and willrefer the user to the document for the original control element, not thecopied control element. To change this, the user or operator must gointo the new control element (or the documentation therefor within anapplication) and change the URL to indicate the documentation for thenew and copied control element. This can be tedious and a designer oroperator may forget to take this action, resulting in the wrongdocumentation for the new control element.

[0030] When a generalized field is placed within the URL, however, thecopied URL within the new control element will automatically cause theURL to call up the documentation provided for the new control elementbased on some property (such as the name) of the new control element,which is typically changed when the new control element is copied andcreated. Of course, this assumes that the new documentation for the newcontrol element is set up based on the name (or other property) of thecontrol element. However, if this documentation naming configuration isfollowed, the URL with the generalized field will automatically refer tothe new documentation for the new control element without being changedby the creator or designer of the new control element.

[0031] Of course any convention, besides the use of brackets, could beused to set up or specify the generalized field within the URL and theinvention herein is not limited to the use of generalized URL fields setoff by brackets. It should be noted, however, that it is preferable whenchoosing characters to use as field delimiters (such as the bracketsabove), it is best to choose characters that are not supported orrecognized by the URL protocol to thereby avoid potential confusion.Using one or more generalized fields within a URL, to track a controlelement name, location, use, etc., makes the URL dynamic to therebyautomatically track copies and renames of the control element in whichthe URL is embedded.

[0032]FIG. 3 depicts a screen display illustrating the properties of anuntitled control element in the Control Studio of the DeltaV controller(made and sold by Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc.). It will be seen inFIG. 3 that the description field for this control element (having amodule name “untitled”) includes the URL http://linnet/<<MODULE>>.docwhich, when selected, will cause the URL http://linnet/untitled.doc tobe delivered to the web browser. If the module “untitled” is copiedand/or named something else, for example, “loop1”, the URL will bedelivered to the web browser as http://linnet/loop1.doc without anyspecific change to the URL as provided in the documentation for themodule.

[0033]FIG. 4 depicts a screen display in the DeltaV control environmentillustrating, on the left hand side of the screen, the configuration ofa process control network as provided by the DeltaV Explorer. Thisconfiguration includes a library, a number of recipes and controlstrategies and a physical network, all of which can be control elementshaving description fields therefor. Included within the physicalnetwork, is a number of input/output cards C01-C06, which are alsocontrol elements. As will be seen in FIG. 4, the control element C01 hasbeen selected. On the right hand side of the screen, provided in adialog box, the properties of the C01 card are illustrated and, withinthe description field, the URL http://linnet/<<NODE>>.doc is provided.This URL, which has a generalized field tied to the node associated withthe card C01 (called CTLR1 in FIG. 4), can be used to automatically callup information in the form of a document pertaining to the C01 card.

[0034] It will be understood that URLs may be used to establish aconnection or a link from the documentation of any process controlelement, including any device, application, module, function block,library, data structure, etc. to any other entity (e.g., document,application, file, etc.) associated with any programming environment.Moreover, while the description herein uses, as an example, DeltaV“function blocks” (which are very similar in configuration to Fieldbusfunction blocks), it is noted that the use of the expression “functionblock” herein is not limited to what the DeltaV or the Fieldbusprotocols identify as a function block but, instead, includes any othertype of block, program, hardware, firmware, etc., associated with anytype of control system and/or communication protocol and that can beused to implement some control function. While function blocks typicallytake the form of objects within an object oriented programmingenvironment, this need not be case and can, instead, be other logicalunits used to perform particular control (including input and output)functions within a process control environment. Still further, it willbe understood that the use of URLs in process control systemdocumentation can be provided in any type of field device, communicationand/or controller protocol or environment, including protocols that relyon other than two-wire buses and protocols that support analog and/ordigital communications, such as the HART, PROFIBUS, etc. communicationprotocols, or any other communication protocol that now exists or thatmay be developed in the future.

[0035] Of course the URLs used in process control system documentationas described herein are preferably implemented in software stored in orprovided in any format on any computer readable memory such as on amagnetic disk, an optical (e.g., laser) disc, or other storage medium,in a RAM or ROM of a computer, controller, field device, etc. Likewise,process control element documentation having URLs therein may bedelivered to a user or a device via any known or desired delivery methodincluding, for example, over a communication channel such as an ethernetconnection, a telephone line, the internet, etc.

[0036] While the present invention has been described with reference tospecific examples, which are intended to be illustrative only and not tobe limiting of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art that changes, additions or deletions may be made to thedisclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A process control application for implementation and use in a controlprogramming environment associated with a process control system havinga multiplicity of process control elements therein, the process controlapplication comprising: a documentation field for one of themultiplicity of process control elements, said documentation fieldincluding textual information displayable to a user and adapted to bestored in a memory within the process control system; and a contextsensitive uniform resource locator disposed in the documentation fieldto point to an address of an external entity, the address to which thecontext sensitive uniform resource locator points dynamically changingin response to changes to an attribute value of the one of themultiplicity of process control elements.
 2. The process controlapplication of claim 1, wherein the uniform resource locator includes adistinctive characteristic that distinguishes the uniform resourcelocator as a uniform resource locator when displayed.
 3. The processcontrol application of claim 2, wherein the distinctive characteristicis underlining.
 4. The process control application of claim 2, whereinthe distinctive characteristic is a particular color.
 5. The processcontrol application of claim 1, wherein the uniform resource locatoridentifies an entity in a second programming environment that is adifferent programming environment than the control programmingenvironment.
 6. The process control application of claim 5, wherein thesecond programming environment is a word processing environment.
 7. Theprocess control application of claim 5, wherein the second programmingenvironment is a World Wide Web environment.
 8. The process controlapplication of claim 5, wherein the second programming environment is alocal area network environment coupled to the process control system. 9.The process control application of claim 1, wherein the one of themultiplicity of process control elements is a software element capableof being implemented on a processor within the process control system.10. The process control application of claim 9, wherein the one of themultiplicity of process control elements includes a function block. 11.The process control application of claim 1, wherein the one of themultiplicity of process control elements is a physical device capable ofbeing used within the process control system.
 12. The process controlapplication of claim 1, wherein the external entity is a text file. 13.The process control application of claim 1, wherein the external entityis a program adapted to be executed on a processor.
 14. The processcontrol application of claim 13, wherein the process control applicationis located in a first computer and the external entity is located in asecond computer different than the first computer.
 15. The processcontrol application of claim 1, wherein the uniform resource locatorincludes a generalized field that has a descriptor identifying aproperty of the one of the multiplicity of process control elements, andfurther including a routine that replaces the generalized field with theidentified property of the one of the multiplicity of the processcontrol elements to create a new uniform resource locator when theuniform resource locator is selected by a user.
 16. The process controlapplication of claim 15, wherein the property of the one of themultiplicity of process control elements is the name of the one of themultiplicity of process control elements.
 17. The process controlapplication of claim 15, wherein the property of the one of themultiplicity of process control elements is a location indicationassociated with a manner in which the one of the multiplicity of processcontrol elements is located within the process control system.
 18. Theprocess control application of claim 1, further including a browser thatuses the uniform resource locator to locate and launch an entity in asecond programming environment that is a different programmingenvironment than the control programming environment.
 19. A processcontrol element adapted for implementation and use in a controlprogramming environment associated with a process control system, theprocess control element comprising: a process function operator; adocumentation field including textual information, said documentationfield displayable to a user and adapted to be stored in a memory withinthe process control system; and a context sensitive uniform resourcelocator disposed in the documentation field to point to an address of anexternal entity, the address to which the context sensitive uniformresource locator points dynamically changing in response to changes toan attribute value of the process function operator.
 20. The processcontrol element of claim 19, wherein the uniform resource locatorincludes a plurality of distinctive characteristics which distinguishthe uniform resource locator as a uniform resource locator.
 21. Theprocess control element of claim 19, wherein the uniform resourcelocator identifies an entity in a second programming environment that isa different programming environment than the control programmingenvironment.
 22. The process control element of claim 19, wherein theprocess function operator is a process control device.
 23. The processcontrol element of claim 19, wherein the process function operator is asoftware element capable of being implemented on a processor within theprocess control system.
 24. The process control element of claim 19,wherein the uniform resource locator includes a generalized field thathas descriptor identifying a property of the process function operator,which property of the process function operator replaces the generalizedfield of the uniform resource locator when the uniform resource locatoris used.
 25. The process control element of claim 19, wherein theexternal entity is a text file.
 26. The process control element of claim19, wherein the external entity is a program adapted to be executed on aprocessor.
 27. The process control element of claim 26, wherein theprocess control element is located in a first computer and the externalentity is located in a second computer different than the firstcomputer.
 28. A process control system comprising: a computer readablememory; a display device adapted to display information stored in thecomputer readable memory; a process control element adapted to be usedin a control programming environment; a documentation field includingtextual information related to the process control element, saiddocumentation field stored in the computer readable memory anddisplayable via the display device; and a context sensitive uniformresource locator disposed in the documentation field that points to anaddress of an external entity, the address to which the contextsensitive uniform resource locator points dynamically changing inresponse to changes to an attribute value of the process controlelement.
 29. The process control system of claim 28, further including abrowser that uses the uniform resource locator when the uniform resourcelocator is displayed and selected on the display device.
 30. The processcontrol system of claim 28, wherein the uniform resource locatoridentifies an entity in a second programming environment that is adifferent programming environment than the control programmingenvironment.
 31. The process control system of claim 28, wherein theuniform resource locator includes a generalized field that hasdescriptor identifying a property of the process control element, andfurther including a routine that replaces the generalized field withinthe uniform resource locator with the property identified by thedescriptor to create a new uniform resource locator to be delivered to abrowser.
 32. The process control system of claim 28, wherein the processcontrol element is a physical process control device.
 33. The processcontrol system of claim 28, wherein the process control element is asoftware element capable of being implemented on a processor within theprocess control system.
 34. The process control system of claim 28,wherein the external entity is a text file.
 35. The process controlsystem of claim 28, wherein the external entity is a program adapted tobe executed on a processor.
 36. The process control system of claim 35,wherein the routine is located in a first computer and the externalentity is located in a second computer different than the firstcomputer.
 37. A method of providing support for a process controlelement used within in a control programming environment, comprising thesteps of: storing textual documentation pertaining to the processcontrol element in a computer readable memory used within the controlprogramming environment; storing a context sensitive uniform resourcelocator in the textual documentation, wherein the context sensitiveuniform resource locator points to an address of an external entity, theaddress to which the context sensitive uniform resource locator pointsdynamically changing in response to changes to an attribute value of theprocess control element; and displaying the textual documentationincluding the uniform resource locator on a display device to enableselection of the uniform resource locator.
 38. The method of providingsupport for a process control element of claim 37 further including thestep of using a browser to access an entity referred to by the uniformresource locator when the uniform resource locator is selected via thedisplay device.
 39. The method of providing support for a processcontrol element of claim 37, further including the steps of placing ageneralized field having a descriptor identifying a property of theprocess control element within the uniform resource locator andreplacing the generalized field within the uniform resource locator withthe property identified by the descriptor when the uniform resourcelocator is selected via the display device.